A New Jersey democrat is using her political muscle to force citizens across the state to register their bicycles with the Division of Motor Vehicles. The ridiculous maneuver would help the state offset its $10 billion budget deficit by enforcing a $10 per license plate fee and fines up to $100 for those, including children, caught riding unregistered bikes.

Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker (D-Essex) said balancing the state’s budget isn’t her motivation for the outlandish proposal; it’s protecting senior citizens from getting run over by kids on bikes.

Affixing license plates to every bicycle in the state would help these vulnerable senior citizens identify and rattle off the license plate numbers from the kids’ bikes to the police, ensuring the rascals are brought to justice, says Tucker.

Tucker’s proposal has been met with opposition by a diverse group of interests including bicyclists, environmentalists, business owners and even her own colleagues in the State House.

“That’s an outrage, for sure,” said Paige Hiemier, vice-president of the New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition. “Basically, it’s outrageous for a number of reasons, and most of them are: Who is the legislation aimed at? Who’s going to administer it? How are they going to pay for it? Who’s going to stop the bicyclists and check their registration?”

Michelle Malkin just released her “Big Nannies of the Year” list and Reason.tv recently held its annual red carpet ‘awards gala.’ Find out who made the cut and let us know if a notorious nanny state nincompoop has been overlooked.

Kids in Wrightsville Beach are now free to possess balloons, but will be fined $250 if they accidentally release them.

An attempt to the criminalize possession of balloons in a N.C. beach town has been shot down. However, Wrightsville Beach aldermen say anyone who fails to hold on to their balloon(s) will get slapped with a $250 fine.

On Nov. 25, the Nanny State Liberation Front was among the first to report that Wrightsville Beach aldermen, by a 3-2 vote, criminalized the “possession and/or release of inflated balloons on the local beachfront.”

If anyone can provide some local sea turtle casualty statistics to justify the $250 fine for intentionally or accidentally releasing balloons, sound-off below. We just haven’t read about any statistical evidence of the alleged atrocities — it’s all been emotional rhetoric coming from the aldermen, so that’s why we’re curious.

In Wrightsville Beach, these kids' parents would be slapped with $300 in fines for unlawful possession of balloons.

Simply holding inflated balloons on a string while strolling the beach in one N.C. town will result in a $100 fine. Letting go of the balloons will cost you an extra $250, courtesy of Wrightsville Beach’s Board of Aldermen.

The possession and/or release of inflated balloons on the local beachfront was criminalized on Nov. 18 by a 3-2 vote. Mayor Pro Tem Bill Blair and Alderman Susan Collins dissented, saying the ban is an unnecessary assault on good old-fashioned fun enjoyed by young and old alike.

Alderman Lisa Weeks, who cast the decisive vote, said she did it “for the sea turtles.” She and her fellow balloon banners are convinced that sea turtles confuse deflated balloons for yummy jellyfish, resulting in suffocation and death.

Agree of disagree with the Board of Aldermen criminalizing the possession and/or release of inflated balloons? Share your thoughts with the Board of Aldermen (click link for email addresses and telephone numbers). Be sure to ask how many sea turtle autopsies reveal balloons as the primary cause of death.

Gene Harrington, director of government affairs for the National Pest Management Association, opined in The Washington Post yesterday that the D.C. Council’s newly enacted Wildlife Protection Act is “the most extreme, overreaching, unreasonable and restrictive wildlife-management measure in the entire country.” Why? Because it protects many invasive rodent species from being exterminated:

The bill’s proponents claim that the legislation does not cover mice and rats. That is only partially true, however; the bill’s definition of wildlife expressly exempts commensal rodents — the house mouse and Norway and roof rats. The bill covers all other rodents, such as deer mice, field mice and chipmunks, but under the legislation the use of a snap trap by a professional pest management company to control such rodent species is illegal.

Moreover, the legislation creates a liability for companies using a snap trap to capture a house mouse or Norway rat, because the company might not know the exact rodent infesting a person’s home or business when it sets out traps. It could capture a field mouse, deer mouse or chipmunk.

Despite statements to the contrary, the Wildlife Protection Act will indeed hinder rodent control in the District and is likely to lead to a larger, more unmanageable rodent population.

Another big government goof-up that protects the something that doesn’t need protecting while punishing those who are trying to protect their families, homes, businesses and properties from harm caused by invasive rodent species? And, we’re not even talking about the illegal immigration debacle.

Upton's so environmentally friendly that he just rolls to work in a tire.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) survived the Tea Party’s purge of RINOs from Congress and now he’s angling to become the Chairman of the House Energy Committee. As the NSLF warned voters prior to last week’s election, he can’t be trusted to legislate in the best interests of our nation and its citizens:

This RINO has cast way too many votes enabling Speaker Pelosi and her boss, President Obama, to bankrupt America by any means necessary. On top of that, Upton’s an environmental wingnut who Democrats say is “someone they can work with on energy and climate issues.” Thanks to Fred and his friends across the aisle, beginning in 2012, old-fashioned light bulbs will be phased-out and replaced with those super-expensive ‘energy-efficient’ bulbs. Despite co-sponsoring the light bulb ban, Upton’s now trying to downplay his involvement the bill’s passage.

Depending on what state you live in, you may be paying taxes on your energy bill to help stop global warming. That’s right, you may have been enlisted as a soldier in the war against climate change and you may not even know it! And as a soldier in this war, depending on your state’s policies you have no choice whether to fight or not … I wonder how many millions of people around the country pay their utility bills each month and have no idea what they are funding?